That’s the big question after federal regulators this week authorized Dish Network’s publicly stated plan to leverage billions of dollars’ worth of satellite spectrum for land-based mobile- broadband service to compete against the likes of AT&T and Verizon Wireless.

With the ball now in its court, Ergen’s Dish isn’t saying much other than releasing a statement that indicated the Douglas County-based satellite-TV company is assessing strategic options.

Ergen said last month it would take Dish about 30 days after receiving the FCC order to figure out “where we think we’re going to go.”

“I’m not sure they’re really in a position to develop an LTE network, which then leaves you to sell it or lease it,” said Nancee Ruzicka, Denver-based director of competitive strategies at research-and-consulting firm Stratecast.

Dish may lease the asset to spectrum-starved Sprint Nextel in exchange for a favorable network-sharing or reseller agreement that gives Dish priority access and capacity guarantees to a Sprint-owned LTE network.

“They’re just too far behind the curve to become an alternate player,” Ruzicka said. “(Ergen) may work a deal where it’s his spectrum that becomes part of somebody else’s network that feeds and runs his services across.”

A mobile-broadband business could help Dish raise its revenue amid a nearly saturated pay-TV business.

Ergen paid about $3 billion for his spectrum war chest. In late November, BTIG analyst Walter Piecyk pegged the value of the spectrum at up to $10 billion with FCC approval. Other reports suggest it could be worth $12 billion.

“I’m not sure what exactly Charlie will do — except that I don’t think that he wants to build out an expensive network alone,” said Donna Jaegers, an analyst with D.A. Davidson & Co.

Piecyk highlighted a dozen companies that could potentially partner with Dish, including T-Mobile owner Deutsche Telekom, Google and AT&T.

A sale of the spectrum probably wouldn’t come until after the government auctions another block of airwaves adjacent to Dish’s, a process that could take more than a year, Ruzicka said.

“It wouldn’t make a whole lot of sense to sell before the H Block auction because whoever isn’t successful in that is going to still need spectrum, and then there’s a better buyer,” she said.

AirPods have become a rare public misstep for Apple. In September, Apple marketing chief Phil Schiller hailed the earbuds as the entree to a wireless future, with seamless connection to an iPhone and a five-hour battery life.

The brokerage industry’s self-regulator has asked employees fired by Wells Fargo & Co. and stripped of their securities registrations to come forward if they have concerns over their treatment, the latest sign of growing scrutiny on the bank.

Ford Motor Co. is going ahead with plans to move small-car production from the U.S. to Mexico despite President-elect Donald Trump’s recent threats to impose tariffs on companies that move work abroad.